Matin Luther King was not only the most important figure in American religious history in the 20th century, he was arguably its most brilliant polemicist. Malcolm X came closer than any social reformer in history to embodying and articulating the totality of the African experience in America.
Pitney-Howard's immaculately documented study comes closest to a balanced and accurate portrait of their relationship as leaders and seekers of justice on both the existential (personal) and universal (as world teachers) levels. With a well-organized and comprehensive selection of their most significant statements, we have an unsurpassed teaching tool for this most signal moment in the history of ideas and social dialog. Further, the book is svelte, inexpensive, and accessible to for the majority of undergraduate level students.
An incredibly valuable effort here, both within and beyond the classroom, an integral part of my critical thinking courses, which blessedly focuses on the crucial last years in the lives of these larger than life, but quintissentially human figures.